BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Operating in an anonymous trailer behind the County Courthouse off Main Street, a team of 14 workers has quietly saved Hancock County’s records from the next hurricane.
Over the past six weeks, two shifts of seven employees from the LMI company have salvaged, catalogued and scanned in the entire archive of titles, deeds, federal tax liens, transforming the musty and sometimes moldy paper into images that can be retrieved at the click of a mouse.
“We had to finish those before we could take off Saturday or Sunday,” said Bridgette Ladner, a member of the crew that has been splitting 17-hour days recovering records.
Now the staff is on a more normal schedule, scanning the Chancery Court records. So far they’ve reached back as far as 1994, and they will continue the tedious task for another three weeks.
LMI President Richard Greenlee says the first 32 years of documents were recorded by the Image Track 2 scanner within four days of beginning the project.
Without the data, nobody could buy or sell property or make insurance claims in Bay St. Louis, Waveland or elsewhere in the county.
Eventually, the company scanned titles and land records going back to the 1800s, documents that are more historical artifacts than essential for day-to-day business.
Most of the records survived the brunt of the hurricane, although some were damaged and had to be dried and sprayed for mold before they could be copied.
Yet, the destructive power of Katrina highlighted the vulnerability of such records and other counties have retained LMI for the same job.
“If you lose those, you are in the dark ages,” Greenlee said.
The smell
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What a great idea. I think all important documents should be scanned. With modern technology such as the internet there is no excuse not to have this done.
Natasha K, Calgary, Alberta Canada (Sent Nov 8, 2005 6:11:17 PM)
I can think of a lot of attorneys' offices being grateful to have all these records preserved! :)
Stephanie Umbro, Standish, ME (Sent Nov 8, 2005 9:27:41 PM)
It is amazing how many local governments have not yet digitized their records. I have been working with this technology since 1998, and for most industries it is totally worth every penny you spend. It takes disasters like Katrina and Wilma to wake people up.
I say "way to go" Hancock County.
Ashley Brannik, Portland, Oregon (Sent Nov 9, 2005 2:32:06 AM)
A great big "thank-you" to all digitizers everywhere for it most certainly is not mere paperwork they are rescuing. Absolutely not. For tedious governmental documents such as deeds can not only open up one's family history but provide professional and "volunteer" historians, and creative writers too, an invaluable tool in discovering "how it was". And so, if we take the opportunity those folks offer, to step out of our moment in time - and out of ourselves - to more honestly consider and better understand the human condition.
Jane S, North Carolina (Sent Nov 9, 2005 11:01:48 AM)
Scanning documents to the PC is great. There is only one better solution and that is to scan and microfilm those important documents. Microfilm has been around for over 100 years and has stood the test of time. Scanned documents stay on site in the PC and film is sent to a safe place. The best of both worlds
Linda D, Walden, NY (Sent Nov 9, 2005 4:33:01 PM)
FYI the documents were for the most part already microfilmed by a group from Salt Lake City, but that technology doesn't translate into a computer searchable document (at the level they were filmed) Great for researchers but poor for title searchers. The effort was really outstanding based on the condition of the books. Thanks to Chancery
Clerk Tim Kellar for saving the deed records, without them the economy of the community would stop. Bay St. Louis Attorney Mike Haas, Jr.
Michael Haas, Jr. (Sent Nov 9, 2005 8:32:52 PM)
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